A Tale of Two Cities - Hong Kong and Singapore

A tale of two cities - Hong Kong and Singapore

Hong Kong

I grew up in Hong Kong, a crown colony of the United Kingdommidnight. , during the age of 6-13. I remember I would open my room window only to face the window of a residence of a neighboring building. People everywhere play a kind of Chinese gambling similar to bridge called Mahjong. The playing medium is not cards but tiny plastic blocks that make noises while playing. The noise can be very annoying from the window next building when you try to sleep at

Hong Kong gambles on all kinds. You can bet on horse racing, horse trotting, dog racing, Mahjong, cards playing, or anything. You can buy things from all the world cheaply in Hong Kong because of the very low tax and excise structure. The rate is close to nothing. Hong Kong was truly a world shopping and dining heaven for all.

Today, Hong Kong is still a free island even as a SAR (Special Administration Region) of the People's Republic of China. Hong Kong plays Mahjong 24 hours around the clock. There have been some changes though. McDonald is a new place now to accommodate those who stay up the whole night. This makes McDonald sleepless with Hong Kong.

Hong Kong maintains a highly capitalist economy built on a policy of free market, low taxation and government non-intervention. It still continues on business practice established under the British administration in the old colonial days. The Government of Hong Kong leaves most of the economic direction to the market forces of the private sector.

For a century, Hong Kong has been operating freely under the non-official intervention policy. Hong Kong levies a very low tax to finance a small public sector civil workers. It has often been cited as a laissez-faire capitalismHong Kong first as the world's freest economy. of the world. It ranks the world's top in the Index of Economic Freedom for 13 consecutive years. The Economic Freedom of the World Report also places